I bought my Iwata evaporative cooler, summer of last year, so this is a product review after one year or so of use.
First of all, after one year, my evaporative cooler is still working. I had been warned by some people that these coolers are fragile gizmos, prone to breakage and malfunction. Mine is working perfectly after one year use.
But do evaporative coolers work in the first place? Yes and no. If you are looking for an air conditioner, air coolers are definitely NOT the way to go. But if you are looking for a cheap way to cool off without having to pay the high price of electricity of an AC unit, you have to lower your expectations. My evaporative cooler is on the higher-end of the spectrum at around 6K Php but still, in no way comparable to an airconditioner.
But better than a fan at least? Definitely so. Just using unchilled water straight from the faucet will lower the temperature of the air being blown by the cooler to around 28 degrees Celsius. If you add 2 pieces of the 3 peso ice blocks you can buy from the sari-sari store, and the temperature will drop to as low as 22 degrees for about 3 hours depending on how hot the ambient temperature is.
So summertime, before going to bed, I load up my cooler with water and 2 to 3 pieces of sari-sari store ice, then I am set for the night. By the time the ice effect is lost, it would be around 11 pm at night and the ambient temperature will be cool enough anyway. So yeah, it is a pretty good appliance if you ask me. Just know what you are buying -- it is NOT an air conditioner, it is rather inconvenient loading the thing with water and ice, and electric consumption is comparable to running two traditional electric fans.
